New Mexico State hoops

Loading...

Monday, February 8, 2010

Another close win

I don't know how many more of these Marvin Menzies can take. Seriously though, Menzies didn't act like a guy whose team had just finished off a sweep of one of the better teams in the conference. But I like that. He is starting to not just be satisfied with a win, but he wants to win the right way. Every team needs luck here and there and his players probably have the ability to free lance a little, but Menzies was upset that the Aggies didn't start their final play on time according to his instructions out of the timeout. Perhaps Laroche was just in a hurry to get it to JY and let him do his thing.

Either way, the Aggies haven't lost a close WAC game yet and I would say the Nevada game was the only time they were outplayed was against Nevada.

Still though, they turned it over 16 timesand 5 of those by my count were in the last 10 minutes. But tonight was the most turnovers since they had 17 at Boise State so it's not a trend but rather something to consider.

16 comments:

Anonymous
said...

I have to say it was a most dissatisfying win.

You could see the wheels start to fall off. A couple 3s drop, the team goes up by about 17 points, and then they kind of go brain dead. The players stopped looking to take the ball inside, dinked around the perimeter, turned the ball over, and came close to giving the game away.

I have to question why Menzies didn't take a time out before that huge lead dwindled to nothingness. Don't just stand there man, coach the team.

The Aggies better get it figured out before heading into Utah State and Nevada. They could go from tied for 1st to tied for 3rd in those games alone.

My biggest issue with how the game was handled tonight is that we have a 17 point lead with about 8:30 minutes to go and we slam the brakes. I understand that you want to slow the game down to keep the win but with that much time left? Are you kidding me. Maybe its just me but I feel like Menzies slows the game down too fast when there is no need for it. We are obviously not good at milking the clock that early so why not let the team keep going at it and milk it later on. Tonight and Saturday would have been good games to put in some of the bench players but we just stop ourselves too soon. Attendance was pitiful again and once more I'll say that its on bot sides. The people of Las Cruces need to stop being lazy and the students need to get to the games. They have the entire south side to work with and its empty. Athletics needs to advertise more, those crappy signs which are barely readable on Solano and University are not cutting it and neither are the advertisements at Taos. I'll say it again, if Menzies and his team want more people to show up they need to go out and recruit them.

That was a huge win last night. The Aggies were great to close off the 1st half. They showed alot of heart and determination to tie it up at half. The crowd helped them get the 17 point lead. All the Aggies need to do is learn how not to let the other team get back up after getting knocked down. After seeing Coach Menzies on Laroche during the timeout after La Tech made the 3 to tie it, I was confident. He will address the team and we won't see alot of big leads being blown in the future. I am 100% invested in Coach Menzies just like I was at the beginning of the year. He has a great mind for basketball and WILL lead the Aggies to future success. If we beat Fresno St. on Thursday, there is no excuse for the attendance to be less than 8,000 fans. There is something really special going on in Las Cruces and everybody needs to know it. It's killing me that I live in Las Vegas and can't see my Aggies live.GO AGGIES!!!!

1. Has Menzies just given up on his bench? Tyrone Watson has put in some quality minutes but has not seeing playing time lately? I know Banja Sy and BJ West are raw, but they need quality minutes too.

2. I like the Aggies' talent, but will this team ever be a team that can step on the other team's throat? Great teams can close out an over-matched opponent. The Aggies are not there yet.

3. Get to the games! I live in Houston and it's sort of a far drive to LC, but there is no excuse for just over 5K in attendance. The team is rebounding and making a push at a conference title, and all we can muster up is 5K for a first place matchup? That's bad. How do you think that looks to recruits on visiting the campus and taking in a game? You think the recruit is saying, "wow, it's Monday night in LC, the fans must just have something better to do"? Wendell was wrong to call students out, but now it's time to get to the games and support the team. I went to college in LC, you're not doing anything more exciting...trust me.

Ok, attendance at games is a problem but I don't see any of the basketball players doing anything to improve that attendance. You want people to come to your games, you go and recruit people, especially students. Instead, we have a bunch of student athletes, men's basketball in particular, who show up to classes whenever they feel like and act like the whole world is supposed to worship them because they play basketball at NMSU. That's not the way to get the students or the community to come to your games. When was the last time you heard of a basketball player involved in community service, and I am not talking about the ones who have to do community service for off the court issues. Clearly Las Cruces community has a problem with attendance at games, not just basketball game, but calling out the fans and complaining about it is not the way to go.

I completely agree that there is an attendance problem and there have been numerous bloggers provide their solutions to this. I do not agree that the basketball players are not doing anything and have no right to call out the fans. The basketball team is doing what they should be doing to gain interest and that is winning by playing exciting basketball. They are 12 and 2 in there past 14 games and tied for first in the WAC. Forget the 3 and 6 start. As for the players or probably WM calling out the fans. Don't be hypocrites. We bloggers have no problem in calling out or criticizing any player or coach after a loss or a poor game. I guess it is a lot easier to be a part of the problem( don't show up at games and complain) rather than be a part of the solution ( go to games and support the Aggies).

Really? And what exactly are these community service projects that the entire basketball team is involved in? Going to support the women's basketball team at their games hardly qualifies as a community service project.

But since I am the ignorant one, why don't you show me the light, oh enlightened one?

Amen to that. They are playing exciting basketball and the true basketball fan should want to come out and see it. I guess we will find out if there are true fans around by attendance in the last 3 games.

The problem is that there are not enough true fans out there. You can call out people and say that they just jump on the band wagon but that is what goes on not only here but around the country as well. If attendance rises it wont be because we have more true fans but because people and students finally decided that this team is worth going to the Pan Am to watch.

I dont agree that winning games should be enough for people to go to the games. It is one of the top reasons for why people should go but if there is not enough advertisement and interaction with the students then we get the same results. On that note I was wondering something that maybe some of you can help me out with. I remember when Reggie was in his second year how the student section was packed against Pacific. Now that was the first game of the year and the Aggies went on to lose the next three games before beating Chicago State and San Francisco. In the next game against UNM we managed to get 12400 people in the stands. That team hadnt won anything yet and had barely finished above 500 the previous season. Was Reggie that much of a crowd pleaser or was there some different in the way things were handled by the marketing department in 06?